Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but a month ago I had a thought that a blog for 1956 classmates might be an interesting way of keeping in touch. So saying, I cut an arm-load of wood to fire up my steam-powered mac and set up Classview http://1956ephs.blogspot.com/. I next selected 20 classmates based on the rigorous criteria of being both alive and having an email address. I emailed this beta group the good news of the blog presence and invited comments. Response has been dismal and that’s with a good spin.

Any thoughts from readers of Dave’s excellent ephblog?

If traffic is too heavy at the Classview site, here is the drivel I offered up for comment and/or the start of dialogue:

1. The death of Pavarotti.
Who as the obits say was closer to a rock star than an opera star. Yet, when attending an opera, even guys our age may find themselves wondering where all these old people came from.

What does the opera crowd look like where you are? What does your local company do to increase appeal among younger people? Any personal experiences with himself of the High C’s? What have you seen lately that you thought was a terrific production? Or is this simply ‘it’s not over ’til the fat lady sings’?

2. The 10th anniversary of Bilbao.
‘Build it and they will come’! The Gehry museum has risen all Portuguese boats. Given the interest in art shown by members of our class, any thoughts on the art v the building, other museums as venues, and using the building space as a place for site-specific art (viz the turbine room of the Tate Modern). And may I have the next slide, Steve!

3. The Canadian dollar at parity with the US dollar!
At least that B.C. crowd who swell Hood River in the summer won’t be asking ‘Is that in Canadian, eh?’. What’s going on? I squeaked through Kermit Gordon’s Econ 1-2 because I used an old copy of Samuelson as a crib. Please, your opinions. Thoughts may be expressed in Euros and Pounds. Visa and Master cards accepted.

4. Who is Harry Potter and need a senior citizen too old for Hogwarts care? What would Clay Hunt have said?

5. Remember Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox ?
Were James MacGregor Burns to write an analysis of Bush the Younger, what would he call it? W: The Ferret and the Ostrich ? No fair asking Prof. Burns. And you are right, this was just a poor excuse to bring current-day geo- politics into play as a discussion topic.

Never-the-less, your entries, please! All entries must be post marked before the date of troop withdrawal from Iraq.

And a Lucky Strike extra (for I was indeed the Lucky Strike representative on campus):

6. The NYT Crossword.

Living in the woods, I download and print out my daily fix. Anyone else do the puzzle every morning? And how do you do it - live online, printed out, or in the actual newspaper? Have you seen this NYT Crossword blog? It is a post-game roundup for non-ESPN watchers. rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com

Williams conveyance of note (six letters)

Daring to identify myself, I am Dick Swart 1956 dick@swart.org Hood River, Oregon.